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October 7, 2005

Flirting with Disaster

From Alesia, who always has to do things the hard way

I killed someone, and it’s really causing problems. Well, actually, I killed two people, but the guy I murdered was really crucial to the flow and pattern. But the woman I killed was nice and everybody liked her, and her husband is devastated. This, as I learned, is a tough thing to pull off.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Alesia is, of course, talking about the CHARACTERS in her BOOK, and not the actual taking of life, which we at Literary Chicks are very, very much against.]

It’s hard, as you might guess, to balance what is basically a funny book with a dead sympathetic character. LESSON LEARNED. I’ll never do it again. But it was a challenge, and I wanted to try it, and my normal daredevil, death-defying nature (let’s call her Evilla) said, “What the heck! Try it! What have you got to lose?”

This is always BAD.

This is the same Evilla who told me jumping the speed bumps in the road on my brand-new roller blades with the neighborhood kids would be a good idea. She disappeared when the wrist fracture happened, though. Evilla only likes to flirt with disaster, not live with the consequences.

Now my five year-old daughter, Princess, is carrying on the family genes in fine style. The very first week of first grade, the phone rings.

Her: “This is the school nurse--”
Me: What did she do? Are there broken bones? [Note that I have a son in that school, too. But it never even crossed my mind that it was him.]
Her: Not this time. But it involved the balance beam, and a maneuver that tried to defy the laws of physics . . .

While I frantically asked for more information, I could hear Evilla in the background, chuckling. “That’s my GIRL!” she said. I knew I was doomed.

There is a problem with my life these days, though. All of the risks I used to take – the ones that made life fun and crazy (and occasionally stupid) – I don’t seem to take any more. I have kids. I have to be responsible. I only get my risks out on the page, which is a great place to take risks, because it makes my books better, but still . . .

I’m going to jump out of my ruts and routines. I’m going to go crazy. I’ll report in here occasionally about how flirting with disaster . . . or flirting with ADVENTURE . . . is making over my life.

YOUR WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT: Tell me one thing you plan to do to jump CLEAR out of your normal routine, and then GO DO IT!!! I’ll go first – I’m going to teach all the kids in the neighborhood how to stand on their heads. In the rain.

Hugs,
Alesia, off to find that balance beam

This very loosely-themed blog was brought to you by Flirting month here on Literary Chicks! Alesia contributed the essay "The Evolution of Envy" for Flirting With Pride and Prejudice, available in stores now from BenBella Books, to which Lani and Michelle also contributed. For more information on how you can win a copy, click on the logo on our site!

Posted by Alesia at 10:08 AM | Comments (1)

Comments

Posted by: Wendy at October 13, 2005 10:22 PM